NC adds jobs, unemployment rate drops

North Carolina added non-farm jobs for the third straight month in March as the state's unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent.

The numbers came Tuesday in an announcement from the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina.

"It is encouraging to see job growth in each of the first three months of this year," said ESC Chairman Lynn R. Holmes.

The adjusted unemployment rate was 9.8 percent in February and 11.3 percent in March of last year. The rate first dropped below 10 percent in November.

Holmes said the state gained almost 14,000 nonfarm jobs in March. The largest increase occurred in professional and business services, where 6,000 jobs were added. Since January, the number of nonfarm industry jobs has increased by 36,500.

The number of people employed increased by 13,000 while the number of unemployed decreased by almost 2,000.